Subscribe

Blog Stats

My Week in Pop Culture – week 19

Posted by Hedwig on May 13, 2012

A short one this week: we had a (lovely – she baked!) house guest from last sunday until friday, and that means looking for a common denominator in entertainment.The one we found: SUPERNATURAL. I’d given a try a while ago as an exercise show but wasn’t very happy with it, mostly because instead of a fight-or-flight reflex I have a deer-frozen-in-headlights reflex. I’m still not sure about the show, now 11 episodes into the first season. Aside from the two brothers, there’s not really any recurring cast (I am aware this changes later, and in fact a possibly recurring character is introduced in ep. 11), and the banter’s sort of bland, especially when compared to something like BUFFY. I think I’ll give it a season, and see if it manages to interest me on a more than moment-to-moment basis.

More TV, a few movies, and a Stephen King book after the jump.

It was really a TV-heavy week, come to think about it. I binged on the last 8 episodes of season 1 of NEW GIRL, which really hit its stride, and the finale of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES redeemed the third season (pretty uneven until then), radically changing the status quo and making me eager to see what happens next. I know the title seems silly, but really: this is one of the most entertaining shows around, especialy since it’s not afraid of burning through plot points. I’m also gradually starting to really enjoy GIRLS, while enjoying VEEP less and less, which is basically the opposite of what I would have predicted three weeks ago.

Movie-wise, a friend and I had ourselves a double feature of VAMPIRE CIRCUS (which I’ve been assigned to review) and FAHRENHEIT 451. The former was quite silly but very entertaining, and containing some great imagery, mixing symbols of vampire lore with circus tropes. As to the second, well, the pairing didn’t do it any favors: it seemed too subdued and intellectual, somehow, not offering much beyond its premise. I did like Julie Christie in her double role, and Truffaut makes great use of the reds of the fireman trucks and buildings. For further research into circus horror, I watched FREAKS on Saturday. I was impressed by how it skirts but ultimately (I think) avoids exploitation of the titular freaks. I also finished watching THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA, but was a little underwhelmed this time, the only really memorable point being one (timing!) about two not-so-neutral perspective shots, one from THE BIRDS and one from PSYCHO.

I’m working on my own post for the blogathon, by the way. It looks like it’ll be about Hitchcock’s perspective-shift in VERTIGO, but it might expand beyond that.

Finally, I read just one thin book this week, Stephen King’s THE GUNSLINGER, first book of the Dark Tower cycle. It was… intriguing enough, I suppose. King talks – in one of the two forewords – about being inspired by THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY. I can see that – unfortunately, his protagonist doesn’t have Eastwood’s charisma to compensate for his relative blankness, and the world seems a bit muddled. I’ll probably go on to read book 2 at some point, or maybe something else by King (if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time I’ve read anything of his), but I can’t say I’ve been captivated yet.